The Uff Commission on Enquiry into the construction sector and the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott) will continue next month as scheduled, following the resignation of commissioner Israel Khan, the Attorney General’s office confirmed yesterday. Khan resigned recently, saying he felt compelled to step down. This followed disagreements with Udecott’s executive chairman Calder Hart in commission hearings.
Khan said the possibility existed that subconsciously, he might hold a bias against Hart and might have not given him a fair hearing. The best thing for him to do therefore was to resign from the commission, he added.

Yesterday, a statement from the AG’s office said Khan’s decision was entirely his own and the other commissioners were not aware of his intention to do so. The AG’s office stated, “They remain appreciative of the contribution that Mr Khan has made to the enquiry but understand the reasons which have led to his resignation and regret his departure before the commission has completed its enquiry. “The remaining commissioners intend to continue and to complete the remaining hearing in accordance with their timetable namely September 7 to 12. The AG’s office stated that the commissioners had not yet begun to formulate their conclusions and therefore the report to be submitted to the President will be that of the remaining commissioners only. The remaining commissioners comprise chairman John Uff, Kenneth Sirju and Desmond Thornhill. Yesterday, the commission spokesman Wally Emmanuel-Cambridge said the relevant act allows the commission to continue. He said evidence solicited from Khan would be handed over to Uff and the commission.

Whether it would be used for input in any way would be determined by them, Cambridge also said. However, Victor Hart, of T&T Transparency International (TTTI), said while TTTI had not taken an official position on Khan’s issue, he had three concerns about the situation. Hart, a former commissioner on the Piarco Airport inquiry noted that when one of Piarco commissioners—Peter Bynoe died—the inquriy had to halt since that enquiry’s terms of reference did not state what their quorum was. He said the situation might or might not be different with the Uff commission. He said Khan’s issue might create ammunition for people adversely affected by the commission’s findings to challenge this in court. He also said the Government might use Khan’s issue as a reason for not publishing the Uff commission’s findings.

Hart said that although the PNM Government had promised in 2003 to publicise the Piarco inquiry report when it was sanitised, this was never done. He also noted that the report on the collapse of the Caroni river bridge was never published. He said the administration had shown a disinclination to publish such reports although millions of taxpayers’ dollars are spent on the inquiries. Former minister Keith Rowley who had called for the Uff inquiry, said there was no issue since the commission still had three members despite Khan’s resignation.